


Mourn The Living

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Discussion of Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 04:08:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17379263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "I like thinking up ideas. :DSo I’m sad there isn’t a scene in the movie where Jack tells the others how he became a Guardian.And I am freaking curious as to what their reaction is when they discover their newest Guardian actually DIED.(Putting up Gen,But you could do any couple if you want. Like,One of the other Guardians spending time with Jack and trying their best not to tackle him in a hug because they feel sorry for him)"Okay, so I kind of resisted this prompt because, um…for a dead guy, Jack is REALLY REALLY lively. He’s not dead by any metric I use. But you know who dies over the course of 300 years? A shit-ton of people. Why care about your own death, then, if it didn’t even stick?





	Mourn The Living

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr 6/23/2013.

“…and, so, that’s my story. That’s what triggered me becoming a Guardian.” Jack takes a deep breath and looks up at the others. At the last gathering, he had asked specifically for some time at this one to be set aside so he could tell them this. He had tried to awkwardly warn them that it might not be what they were expecting, and that it in fact might be kind of upsetting, but so far the biggest unexpected thing seems to be their reactions. Their faces are solemn and sympathetic to varying degrees, but no one’s acting particularly surprised or shocked. On the one hand, Jack is relieved by this, but on the other hand, it all seems a bit puzzling.  
  
“Is that everything you wanted to tell us?” Tooth asks, beginning to look somewhat worried, given Jack’s apparent growing confusion.  
  
“Well, yeah. I guess I just thought there might be a bigger reaction. That’s why I was worried about telling you all. I mean, I…died. Jamie was asking me a lot of questions about myself a while ago and when I told him my story, he was pretty upset. He was also surprised I hadn’t told any of you yet.”  
  
Bunny nods, beginning to understand where this is coming from. “Look, Frostbite, with a little thinking I’m sure you can figure out that there’s a big difference between us and Jamie.”  
  
“But you are all my friends…”  
  
“Jack,” North says, sliding a cup of hot chocolate over to him, “I think what Bunny wants you to see is that the reactions from a human boy and immortals like us are of course going to be different. You tell Jamie what happened to you, he imagines you dying young, he imagines himself dying young. Is very terrible thing to imagine, for someone who has only lived a few years.”  
  
“But with us, it’s very different.” Tooth picks up the thread of the conversation. “When we were fighting the last battle, that was after you had seen your memories, right? And they didn’t seem to be affecting you too heavily then.”  
  
“That’s true,” says Jack. “But I was starting to worry that my reaction was somehow…wrong.”  
  
“Wrong? Come on, Jack. I don’t know who else you have to ask about this, but the way I see it, you’re not really all that dead. You drowned, but hey—now you’re walking, talking, flying. You’re as alive as any of us,” Bunny says.  
  
Sandy places his small hand over Jack’s to get his attention, and signs as clearly as he can.  _Jamie thinks your death is terrible because he hasn’t seen any other deaths yet. That’s as it should be. But you know you’ve lived on. Why mourn for yourself when you’re still here?_  
  
Every individual is immortal from their own perspective. I think you know, after three hundred years of watching people, that it’s not so bad to be the one that dies. It’s far harder to be the one who survives.  
  
Jack looks down. “I have seen that. And I feel like I have—mostly—gotten used to it. Yeah. It’s no big deal that I died. But there were always a few people I watched through their whole lives…”  
  
“We know, Jack. We know,” Tooth says, placing an arm around his shoulders. “It doesn’t matter that you died to become immortal. It matters that as an immortal, you have to watch everyone else die.”  
  
“And…Jamie will understand that when he’s older. A lot older,” Jack says, his expression grim.  
  
Tooth gives his shoulders a squeeze. “Unfortunately, that’s the best of all the options.”


End file.
